Thomas Benton BRONAUGH

Note: Thomas name was misspelled as "Thomas B. Burnaugh" in the records.

Company H, Second Kansas Volunteer Cavalry

Thanks to Cindy Kennedy, great great granddaughter of Private Thomas Benton BRONAUGH for the information on this page. For more information on the Bronaugh family, please visit http://shebbear.cartama.net

Thomas Benton Bronaugh was born about 1847 in Indiana (probably Hendricks County), the son of William Newton Bronaugh and Ellen (Knowles) Bronaugh. William Newton Bronaugh was the son of Thomas Bronaugh (a veteran of the War of 1812) and Charlotte (Tinsley) Bronaugh. By the time Thomas Benton Bronaugh was born, the Bronaugh family had been living in Hendricks County, Indiana for about 20 years. They had come to Indiana from Lincoln County, Kentucky.

During the late 1840s and the early 1850s, the adult children of Thomas Bronaugh (the War of 1812 veteran) left Indiana and moved to Missouri. William Newton Bronaugh and wife Eleanor, along with their young son, Thomas Benton Bronaugh, settled in Polk County, Missouri, north of Springfield. They appear on the 1850 census of Polk County. On 15 September 1854, William Newton Bronaugh purchased 40 acres of land in Polk County from the Land Office in Springfield. William's brother, James Thomas Bronaugh, who married Judah Knowles, bought land nearby. Other siblings of William and James Thomas Bronaugh settled in Laclede County, Missouri. They were Lucy (Bronaugh) King, wife of George King, Sarah Jane (Bronaugh) Paine, wife of John J. Paine, Jacinthia (Bronaugh) Mahan, wife of James A. Mahan, and Ford Tinsley Bronaugh, who married Morlena/Marlena Robinson.

In addition to Thomas Benton Bronaugh, William Newton Bronaugh and his wife Ellen had four more known children: William Bronaugh, Robert Bronaugh, Mary E. Bronaugh, and Jerdy Ellen Bronaugh.

William Newton Bronaugh enlisted in Company A, 8th Regiment, Missouri State Militia (Union), on 18 December 1861.

On 1 Feb 1862 Thomas Benton Bronaugh first enlisted in Company C, 24 MO Vol. Infantry at Lebanon, Laclede County, Missouri. He would have been approximately 15 years old at this time. (He is listed as being 3 years old on the 1850 Polk County, Missouri census and 13 years old on the 1860 Polk County census.) According to his military record obtained from the National Archives, he was discharged due to illness. The statement on his discharge reads,

Thomas' pension record states that he contracted acute bronchitis after a forced march in a rainstorm and was first treated at a hospital in Greenville, Missouri before being transferred to the General Hospital at Jefferson Barracks.

In the records of the 24th Missouri, his name is spelled "Thomas Branaugh."

Thomas returned home to Polk County, Missouri for four months, and then, on 10 April 1863, at Springfield, Missouri, he enlisted in Company H, 2nd Kansas Cavalry. The record of his enlistment states that he was 18 years old (he was actually about 16), 5 feet 4 inches tall, brown complexion, dark eyes, dark hair, and born in Indiana. He was enlisted by Captain Gunther.

In the records of the 2nd Kansas, his name is spelled "Thomas B. Burnaugh." Years later, when Thomas was applying for a pension, he was questioned about the spelling of his name. The pension record states,

Thomas was later reassigned to Company L. 2nd Kansas Cavalry. The actual date of this reassignment is difficult to determine from his military records, but it does say that the reassignment was due to reorganization.

Information listed in his military record from the 2nd Kansas:

• March and April 1863. Enlisted in company April 10/63. (Enrolled and mustered in April 10/63 at Springfield Mo. For 3 yrs.)
• April 1863: Enlisted in Regt. (Co. H)
• May 1863: Absent on det. Serv. (escort duty) since May 29/63
• July and August 1963: Present. Stoppage $40 for two Colt revolvers. Muster into service to take effect from date of enlistment.
• Sept 1863: Absent on det. Serv. With Co. Cloud scouting since Sept 9/63
• November and December 1863: Present. Furnished horse and equipments.
• Dec. 1863: Absent on det. Serv. Post duty since Dec 28/63
• Feb 1864: Absent on det. Serv. With Forage Trains since Feb 27/63
• May 1864: Absent on det. Serv. With camp equipage Ft. Smith, Ark since May 20/64
• August 1864: Absent on det. Serv. Since August 10/64 escort for mail to Fayetteville, Ark.
• Sept 1864: Absent on det. Serv. With Forage Trains since Sept 28/64
• March 1865 (Co. L): March 23/65, Lewisburg, Ark. Recruit from original Co. H, assigned by S.O. 68, H.Q. Dept. Ark dated Little Rock, Ark, Mar 18/65.
• March 18, 1865: Appears on Co. Muster-out Roll dated Little Rock, Ark, March 18, 1865. Last paid to June 30, 1864. Retained in service under provision of War Dept. Circular 36 of 1864, assigned to Regt'l Detachment for Re-organization.
• June 22, 1865: Appears on Company Muster-out Roll dated Ft. Gibson, C.N. June 22, 1865. Last paid to 20 Feb 1865. Clothing account: due U.S. $86.75. Bounty paid $_____; due $100. Private from enrollment. Recruit of original Co H. Retained 1 carbine and acetrs [?] $8.00 1 revol and acetrs (?) $8.00.

His record also states, "Mustered into service Aug 13/63 at Cassville, Mo by Capt. Bodenham. Recruit from original Co. H. Mustered out at Fort Gibson, C.N., June 22/65."

Three years after his discharge, on 6 September 1868, Thomas Benton Bronaugh married Martha Ann Emmerson at Laclede County, Missouri. Martha was born in July of 1853, the daughter of Elisha Emmerson and Susan A. Bush. Thomas Benton Bronaugh and Martha Ann Emmerson had one child, Ellen (or Ella) Bronaugh, born in November of 1869. They are listed on the 1870 census, living in Marion Township, Polk County, Missouri.

At some point between the 1870 census and February of 1874, Thomas and Martha Ann separated. On 3 February 1874, Martha Ann married again, to John Andrew Kinney, in Laclede County, Missouri. (In John Andrew Kinney's pension record he states that Martha Ann and Thomas had separated.) By 1879, Thomas was living at Hale's Point, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. He married Martha A.B. Smith in Lauderdale County on 23 May 1879. Martha (Smith) Bronaugh died that same year. On 8 December 1879 Thomas filed his Declaration for Original Invalid Pension, stating that he contracted bronchitis "for which I now claim a pension." On the 1880 census, Thomas was living in the household of William R. Smith, in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, and working as a fisherman. On 11 January 1883, Thomas married Drucilla Isabella Foster, at Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. Drucilla was born 25 December 1859, the daughter of John and Paralel M.E. (Webb) Foster. Thomas and Drucilla had the following known children:

Florence Eleanor and Piety Pearl both died when young.

In November of 1887, Thomas and Drucilla's house burned down and all of Thomas' pension paperwork was lost in the fire.

According to Thomas' pension record, he lived at Hale's Point, Tennessee until the spring of 1890 at which time he changed his Post Office address to Ashport, Tennessee. Thomas Bronaugh is listed on the Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War, living at Island 26, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. Island 26 is located across the Mississippi River from Lauderdale County, but it is still part of Lauderdale County, Tennessee.

In the early 1890s, Thomas and family, along with the family of his wife (the Fosters), moved to Craighead County, Arkansas. They lived at Lake City and then at Cane Island (both in Craighead County).

All through the 1880s and until his death in 1895, Thomas continued to communicate with the Pension Office in Washington, D.C., filing paperwork and being examined several times. His application for a pension was repeatedly rejected. In addition to bronchitis, he also claimed a pension due to a gunshot wound to the left shoulder which made it impossible for him to raise his left arm. When asked, he provided this account of how he received this wound:

Individuals supplying affidavits in Thomas' pension file include:

Thomas Benton Bronaugh died 8 May 1895 from pulmonary consumption, which, according to the pension record, was only diagnosed a few months before his death.